Ulog 68: Sometimes Amazon Isn't Your Best Bet... Or Price
Last week I had a visit with my orthopedic Rehabilitation specialist and he recommended I purchase a soft elbow pad (like the ones women wear while playing volleyball) and wear it backwards so that the bend is on the inside of my elbow. He explained I had a diagnosis of Ulnar Neuropathy on the left elbow and to help it possibly fix itself, I needed to keep my left elbow as straight as possible as much as I could.
Well the state I live in it's off season for volleyball which I soon found out as no sporting goods stores or other big box stores with a sporting goods department had any volleyball gear in stock; except for a few volleyballs. We are in the season of high school and college basketball here and VB season ended about a month ago.
So I went online for the quest of finding some volleyball elbow pads.
Keep in mind I am not a person who willy-nilly makes a purchase. I will save the item to me cart and keep searching online until find the best deal possible (I'll even use promo codes, ebates to get the lowest price).
My first stop for the online search was Amazon. And I found some (see image above on right). Now my oldest daughter told me they would be pricey depending where I found them.. and she was right! ALMOST $20!! Oh heck... I can find them cheaper!
I went to the sporting goods stores'online websites.. if they had any, they were in the clearance section... but only in size small. Nope... that's not gonna work for me!
As I fiddled with searching over the next few days... the light bulb finally went off!
EBAY!!!
After I found my EBAY ID and password (I haven't used this website in about ten years) and logged in, I was able to find quite a few different varieties... ALL UNDER $15. I picked a basic one with a sturdy support system and ordered it. Free shipping... delivered within four business days and they only cost me $9.99 plus sales tax (image on left above)! DEALS Abound here!
Granted I will have to wait an extra two days (as Amazon offers two day free shipping), but hey a deal is a deal, right? Two days is worth it for a saving of about $8-9! Plus I used ebates and was able to save 2% more; which is 20/cents... not much. but my ebates currently has almost $10 in the account. So every penny is a penny more I can earn towards new purchases.
I have noticed that on quite a few items as well, it almost seems that if you take a few minutes you can always find a better deal, people have just gotten lazy. I've been doing my best to steer away from amazon as much as possible lately, I don't like how that company is becoming so I am going to cancel my subscription and stop using it completely.
It definitely makes a difference when you take your time and research more than just jumping at the first price.
I should ebay more, but finding that log in and password... Not sure I can do that... Ha!
I used to do Ebay so much years ago but that was before Amazon and all the the store really had an online presence.
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Well done @goldendawne, every penny saved is a penny earned! I always search around for the best price and then coupons on top of that. It's kind of a game, right? So sorry your elbow is giving you fits, hopefully this Doc is right, a little rest and you'll be back at it. Planting season is just around the corner and I know you have quite a lot planned!
It is definitely a numbers game when it comes to getting a good deal... for sure!
Oh heck yes!!! I have so many seedlings already growing in my indoor garden that need to go outside and in the greenhouse... this is hopefully not going to slow me down.
Here in our country, you can find more things in fb pages of online sellers. Some are cheap, some are not but at least they are way cheaper than Amazon, Ebay, etc.
My husband has done the FB marketplace too! He'll scroll through it for hours looking for... whatever!
Haha! It has that addicting effect. You should let him stay away from it lol!